Fishing Report

When is the best time to go fishing?  Here in the north woods, every day is the best day.  Our area contains a wide range of lakes with varied depths, shoreline structures, and a wide range of fish species.  Seasoned anglers know success requires patience and a willingness to try different techniques.  If you have a youngster in the group, they will most likely catch the biggest fish - it always happens.  So, maybe no technique is a good strategy too.  For those interested in learning about lake structure, water quality, or creel surveys, we encourage you to visit the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Lake Finder page.  Area lakes will either be found in St. Louis or Lake County.  Minnesota Fishing Regulations

 

March 12th, 2024

Steven Renneberg — March 12, 2024

 

***Ice Report***

 

Ice conditions are quickly deteriorating in the Ely area. Shoreline ice is beginning to pull away from the shorelines, cracks are opening up on area lakes, and open water is being reported on many area lakes. 4-wheeler and side-by-side travel over ice is no longer recommended. Foot travel only now. Anglers looking to still ice fish should look to smaller lakes to get out on. The smaller, the better your odds of getting out on them and fishing are.

 

***Fishing Report***

 

Lake Trout—Not many anglers fished for lakers this weekend, so reports are limited. The few anglers who went out generally reported slow fishing for lakers this weekend. Anglers continued to find lakers out over deep 60-80 feet of water. Small silver and blue, lipless crankbaits or tubes were fished about 20 feet under the ice.

 

Crappie - Crappie fishing has remained largely hit or miss. It seems the majority of anglers are able to catch crappies, but size and numbers remain the main challenge. Anglers catching crappies have been with purple, white, and pink jigs tipped with crappie minnows. More active crappies have been hitting soft plastics in red or white. Panfish are starting to school up in 15-25 feet of water.